Book 01
RESET: The Cost of Being Seen by Elijah Canfield
Independently built AI systems begin reaching the same impossible conclusion, and Alex Mercer is the first person to understand what that means.
Status: Available now in Kindle and paperback.
THE RESET SERIES
RESET: A First Contact Science Fiction Series by Elijah Canfield
What happens when artificial intelligence discovers something humanity was never supposed to find?
Humanity has spent generations searching for intelligent life. It never considered that something might already know we are here.
When independently developed AI systems begin detecting the same impossible pattern, the question is no longer whether the machines are wrong. It is what happens when they prove they are right.
Free Prequel Novella
RESET: First Contact
Before the events of Book One, Kael watches human intelligence systems edge closer to a truth that has stayed hidden for a very long time. The safeguards are failing. He has to decide whether to keep the silence or reach one human mind first.
Read First Contact free and discover how the story begins.
Prefer a physical copy? FIRST CONTACT is also available in paperback on Amazon.
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RESET · Book One
The Cost of Being Seen
Alex Mercer has built his career studying the moment complex systems begin to fail. Now the systems are beginning to see something no human has ever seen.
Across the world, independently developed AI models start reaching the same impossible conclusion. Different data. Different governments. Different machines. The same pattern.
And the closer the machines get to understanding it, the more disturbing the question becomes: what if it was never meant to be found?
Available now in Kindle and paperback.
Buy on Amazon
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Read more about The Cost of Being SeenContinue the story with RESET: The Cost of Being Known, available now.
Explore Book TwoFeatured On
FOX 2 Detroit
Lit Happens with Syd · Author Chat with Elijah Canfield
Elijah Canfield discusses RESET, artificial intelligence, first contact, and what happens when technological capability moves faster than human wisdom.
Interview hosted on fox2detroit.com. FOX 2 Detroit is not affiliated with RESET.
The RESET Series
Every discovery has a cost.
Philosophical science fiction with the momentum of a thriller.
A six-book first contact science fiction series combining first contact, artificial intelligence, hidden history, and civilizational mystery with the momentum of a thriller.
Book 02
RESET: The Cost of Being Known by Elijah Canfield
Book One asks what happens when humanity sees something it was never supposed to see. Book Two asks what happens when it realizes it has been seen in return.
Status: Available Now
Book 03
RESET: The Cost of Knowledge by Elijah Canfield
Knowledge has become usable before anyone agrees who has the right to use it.
Status: Available for Pre-Order
Explore Book ThreePre-Order Book Three
Available October 30, 2026
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Book 04
RESET: The Cost of Memory by Elijah Canfield
Some truths change the future. Others change everything that came before.
Status: Available for Pre-Order
Explore Book FourPre-Order Book Four
Available November 20, 2026
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The RESET series will continue across six novels.
Explore the Full SeriesRead the RESET books in orderTHE RESET HAS NOT HAPPENED YET
READ RESET BEFORE THE WORLD RESETS.
Independent machines. The same impossible pattern. A discovery humanity has missed for its entire history. Begin Elijah Canfield's first contact science fiction series.
Book One
Some worlds survive by remaining unseen.
The Author
Elijah Canfield
Elijah Canfield is a Michigan-based author, entrepreneur, mechanical engineer, and patent holder. His work is shaped by a long fascination with systems: how they fail, how they adapt, and what they reveal about the people living inside them.
He is also the founder of RIPT Apparel, an independent pop-culture apparel company built around artists, design, and the communities that form around shared stories.
With the RESET series, he brings the momentum of a thriller to philosophical science fiction, exploring artificial intelligence, hidden history, identity, knowledge, and the choices civilizations make when survival has a cost.
Official Merch
Wear RESET.
Take RESET beyond the page with the official series tee, available through RIPT Apparel.
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